Based on their presentation of antigenic epitopes and secretion of various cytokines and chemokines which initiate and/or enhance many cell types, antigen-presenting cells (APC) and dendritic cells (DC) are known for their ability to alter and direct different immunological responses and thus induce a phenomenon of B and T cell plasticity. Similarly to multi-potential progenitor cells, APC and DC can be located in different tissues such as the lymph nodes and the bone marrow (BM) or in the circulation. Likewise, DC in different stages of maturity can be found in a variety of tissues.
Neurovascular injury is common in most prenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal cerebral pathologies. It is an important cause of fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality, and of long term sequelae, e.g., cerebral palsy (CP) and mental retardation (MR) and epilepsy of both preterm and term born infants. In-utero hypoxic ischemic (HI) events (e.g., placental insufficiency, chronic fetal-to-maternal hemorrhage, stroke, infection and inflammation), perinatal events (e.g., placental abruption, respiratory failure) and neonatal disorders (e.g., chronic lung disease) are associated with acquired brain injuries that lead to CP. The potential use of stem cells from various sources to reduce neonatal brain damage being investigated in HI animal models shows improvement of sensorimotor functions and brain damage decrease.
In addition to brain damage, stem cells can be used to treat other intractable neonatal diseases such as Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). BPD is a chronic lung disease, in preterm infants, caused by arrested alveolar growth and disrupted vasculogenesis that leads to chronic lung diseases. NEC is a condition, in premature infants, where portions of the bowel undergo necrosis due to intestinal ischemia resulting in death or long-term disability from gastrointestinal disease.
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